One of our pals just put in a new bamboo floor, and it's been less than 24 hours and he's already found scratches in it. Usually, our advice is, "Don't worry about it! It'll give your home character!" But seeing as though our advice did very little to console him, we've found some interesting DIY tips on how to repair a bamboo floor. Tips after the jump!

For the common surface scratch: Use a surface filler that matches the color of your floor to fill the crack, and then buff like mad to match the surface finish. If the scratch is deeper than you expect and you are feeling particularly brave, wet sand the area to the root of the scratch, and then reapply a new coat of polyurethane.

For water stains or pet damage: Make sure the area is dry and clean. Then, use a disc floor sander, sand the damaged area down to clean material. Grab a mop and bucket, and start applying coats of polyurethane. You'll want to taper off as you work towards the undamaged areas so the finish will be uniform. Lightly sand between coats so the new finish area will match as closely as possible to the older area.